Every year, Professional Bull Riding comes to town and what started as “We have GOT to check this out!” has now become a yearly tradition. I live in a city surrounded by farm and ranch land and PBR is as good excuse as any to see a slice of life completely foreign to me.

(PBR isn’t like bull fighting in Spain, in case you’re horrified right now! Cowboys stay on a bucking bull for as long as they can and earn points for the length of time they stay on and how well they do it – the goal is to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. The bulls get points too, for bucking off the riders and for how quickly. Sometimes the bulls are even bigger celebrities than the riders…they made a big deal about Bushwacker’s retirement after this season. After I went a couple times I did some research on the animal ethics of PBR and I was comfortable with continuing to spend my money there. I would understand if you disagreed.)

Please excuse the selfie-style mirror-and-phone pics, I am not as adept as Mia with an awesome camera & remote set up. [Ed: I would never speak ill of selfie-style outfit photos! If mirror-and-phone pics were good enough for our forefathers, they’re good enough for me.]

Being somewhat bereft of true cowgirl clothing (see above: city girl), I tried to pull together an outfit that leans towards “rancher chic.” It mostly involves finding a button down and jeans. I do own two plaid button downs but since I’ve worn them to the past three PBR excursions I wanted to find something new this year.

The shirt is from the Banana Republic and one I wear to work on occasion. I don’t love it; the pink plus the pintucking make it a little too feminine for me, but it ended up being just right for dinner, PBR, and drinks afterwards. The jeans are new from Uniqlo – I was NOT expecting them to be quite so skinny, but they’re actually the most comfortable jeans I own thanks to a lot of stretch. They’re the only ones that I don’t take off as soon as I get in the house. Not the easiest to put on/take off, however (which may have something to do with it….). The boots are from Ralph Lauren. I hemmed and hawed over them for awhile because they were more than I had spent on a single pair of shoes in a long time, but I’ve worn them nearly every weather-appropriate weekend since then so: good decision, E.

Southwest-inspired jewelry seemed right for the occasion, so I wore my silver and turquoise Kokopelli earrings and silver Kokopelli bracelet. I got these as a teen on a family trip to Arizona and I’m impressed I chose souvenirs I still wear as an adult. I normally really love useless tchocktes. The necklace was a gift from my mom from a local artist’s shop in my city, and the bracelet is from when I was a kid. I recently got it fixed and I’m really happy I did; there isn’t much that comes with my name on it so even though I didn’t wear it for a decade, I’m glad I dragged it around two states and four cities.

So that’s rancher chic! My job has me interfacing with ranchers more and more, though, so by the time PBR comes around next year, I may end up with legit boots and maybe even a cowboy hat. I’ll keep you updated!